Chapter 9: The New Aran
Lex adapted rather well to living with her sister, Houston, and Ryu Ookazi.
It was only a week and she was already being addressed like she was there
all the time. Ryu was a different story, because he wasn't familiar or
even well-connecting to Samus. In fact, he irritated her a lot. Whenever
she muttered 'Stupid Ridley' he wanted to comfort her, but he wasn't even
let a mile near her. He wished he knew where Leah was hiding...and hoped
that Royce or an X hadn't found her first.
His worry changed to relief when he was sent a message using the name
L.a as the sender. It had only an address on it, and he memorized it before
deleting the message, so Samus wouldn't see it.
-------------------------
Kefka had almost decided to follow Ryu to where he was going, but her sporting
side got in the way of her conscience yet again, and she ended up following
Ryu anyway. She stopped in front of a complex that was in the only red-light
sector of the station. Ryu might have gone inside, but she wasn't going to
test 'dragon territory'. Even she knew who Ryu was.
"No fooling Kefka with a cheap demi-human disguise, Ridley. Uwee, haa, haa,
haaa!!"
-------------------------
Ryu sat down on the couch and looked at the TV. Those were the only
furniture that they took from the place on Icerra. Leah sat next to him,
close enough to make him shift as though uncomfortable, but he fought that
urge as she moved to grab his hand and talk.
"I'm sorry that we dropped out of communication for a while. I was just
trying to find a spot to settle in that had Max-Net access built in. It
was tough, but doable. I'm really shocked that there was such a location
here. I know that it's dangerously close to the Metroids, but better to
deal with them than the X, right? Besides...I have this to give you."
She held out a Scouter. "I have my other one in the bedroom. Ginyu let
me have this, just before we left. He said he could get another one.
It's got a constant communicator with a radius of 500 miles. It's fairly
loud when not on your ear, too, so you can hear if someone's sending a
message."
"...You want me to have this...why? I can't fight Metroids."
"You can help me escape. Once all this business involving the X is over,
I can go anywhere I want. And you could go with me, too." Ryu had his
reservations about that. He didn't like that Leah was being so taboo with
Samus. Must have been one of those things that irritated her about him.
He didn't once mention Leah to Samus when she asked about Leah from him.
He knew that if she would get over her fear of being Samus' next target,
she would be at her absolute safest there. No need for hiding.
"..."
"Promise me, Ridley...you won't ever tell Samus about me, will you? I'm dead
to her now, anyway. It's in the records, for my own safety."
'Your safety is in the biggest jeopardy I can imagine...and it is because
you are scared of your own daughter. You are scared to tell the truth, and
it is because you lied to her as a child.' He remembered that dream of
Mah'aren again, and clenched his empty hand into a fist. He heard a shuffle
behind him and whirled around to see the Old Bird standing there.
"Ridley." Old Bird crossed his legs on the floor, sitting between Ryu and
Leah. "I must have noticed your energy close by, it is hard to miss anymore.
You know...I was over in the Metroid lair a little while ago. Dangerous
without Royce, but still pleasant. Anyway...I wanted to say something to
you. I don't care who is with you, but I must say it.
"You are unstable. Caught in twist and turn of cruel fate, and the demons
of your past threaten to reinitialize the control over you that Mother Brain
once had. I am afraid, however, that this is because Mother Brain is back,
and trying to control you again. I know you, Ridley. You seek solace to
your grief, and cannot find it. Alone, are you? Unloved, you think you are?
"This is not true. Samus cared too much for you. When you showed that you
were of a human-like soul, and tormented by youth, she thought of you in a
far different manner. You should have been more responsible, admittedly, but
now is a time of revelation...for both of you. Leah...Ridley...what do you
say to me?" Leah leaned back.
"Blah, blah, you feather-head. I'm not going to face Samus." The Old Bird's
face seemed to darken.
"Like it or not, you will. If you choose not to...then you will regret not
having told her you still lived. You will find yourself unable to come to
terms with yourself. Fear will keep you in this realm the next life."
"...I don't want to tell Samus...I think she might kill me."
"I have one thing to say to that, Ridley. You be dragon, immortal and
invincible to any other less than you. She cannot kill you, physically or
astrally." Gul'Gen nodded. "Your body's genetic construct will not allow
you to die by the sword unless you choose to."
"...So Ridley's got nothing to lose, eh?"
"Yes...and you have everything to lose if you don't act soon."
--------------------------
Ryu was back, and hiding from Samus only to surprise her. He was going to
tell her everything. Even if Leah wouldn't come out herself, he would tell
her about Leah. He wouldn't tell her where Leah was, but he was going to
reveal that she was still alive. He didn't need Lex to prove it, either.
Samus entered her bedroom after getting into a tiff with Adam about a mission
allotment when just after she turned the light off, she saw something
familiar.
Glowing eyes. Yellow eyes. Only one person had those. She scrambled for
the light and turned it on to see Ryu standing there. She sat upright on her
bed.
"What do you want?"
"To tell you something. A lot of things, really." Samus looked at Ryu with
her usual mask of irritation.
"What is it? I'm tired, and I think that you just want to leave me with a
sleepless night. If you're here to piss me off then-"
"Leave? I don't care if I make you mad." He could see her anger rise. "No,
I'm not here for that reason. That is not my intent."
"Then get on with it." Ryu sat in a chair.
"Where do I begin? How do I put it?"
"How about with you...and I don't care how."
"Alright. You know how Ridley got attacked by a Core-X, right?" Samus nods.
"Well...just after the infection, before it reached the nervous system...he
detached his soul from that body, and moved to a new body. He's still alive."
"How does this have anything to do with you?"
"I am that body. I am Ridley. This was the last body that I had created for
me, and I have put so many failsafes against death that I have to will my
end to come in order to die here." Ryu looked down. "I...don't know how they
work in certain circumstances, and whether or not they will be dangerous to
you."
"Why?" Ryu looked up at Samus.
"Why what?"
"Why this? Why did you hide from me? Why didn't you say anything while we
were on Icerra? Why did you disappear this evening?"
"Why a human body? Because...the form I had was too artificial, and too
crude, to utilize anything that I developed as a special power. I was close
to a predatorial savage to do anything. Nothing really beyond my body's own
power. A human body also has a human brain, yes? I feel that it will be
much more effective than that of a bestial monster. I don't want to put fear
into anyone anymore. I even gave myself a different name...I guess, why I hid
was because I didn't want to be Ridley except to those that I reveal myself
to. I didn't say anything to you while on Icerra because..." Ryu trailed
off.
"What?" Samus was now interested in listening to Ridley. He wasn't the
monster that everyone saw before. In fact, to others and maybe even to
Ridley/Ryu, Ridley/Ridley died there on Chauda.
"Now comes the bigger shock. I didn't want to reveal that the planet trade
lied about your mother in order to hide her. They didn't just cart her off
the colony that they were attacking to clear the surface of. They faked her
birth complications, though she did admit to passing out just after the
birth. Leah's still alive, also. She wanted me to shoot her, to keep from
me ever revealing that she is alive. I wouldn't do it."
"Why not?"
"I...don't know, honestly. I never wanted to hurt her, even when she deliber-
ately wanted to hurt, even kill herself. I wanted her to live without fear
of anything...not even you." Samus looked at Ryu.
"And...your reason for saying this is...what? Are you going to turn around
and try to kill me just so she doesn't have to live in fear of my shadow?!"
Ryu shook his head. "No. Samus. I don't want you to hunt her. Don't kill
her. Don't...judge her. Please." Samus laughed.
"From the sound of this, it's almost as though you want to protect someone
you love. Well, this is rich. I don't want to have you for a father-in-law,
in all honesty."
"Ggh! I'm not marrying her! God, do you think I WANT her? I want her to
live, dammit!"
"And? Who DO you love then?"
"I...don't know. I don't know."
"What about you first?" Ryu shook his head.
"I'm not conceited. I don't hold that to me."
"If you don't love you, who will? I don't. You're too stupid."
"And what makes me stupid?"
"You won't even let yourself go...for anything. You try to do what you can
to help or protect us, and you don't even go to any lengths to please
yourself? What about you? Do you think that you'll be happy trying to
protect us? It will tear you apart. It already does."
"Mm." Ryu stammered out. "I don't want to talk about it."
"If you don't tell me, I won't know why you're being so over-protective."
"..."
"This is important to me, Ridley. Please? Houston and Lex are in other
rooms, I promise that no one will bother us."
"Fine. It was the day I was exiled from my homeworld. The day I was deemed
too weak and obstinate for them. One of the current Ginyus, a dragon called
Mah'aren, was killing my little sister. He held her in a neckhold that
certainly would have choked her to death, but lack of air was not enough.
His tail is covered in venomous barbs. Each as lethal as a cobra's fang.
Each...oddly enough even looking like fangs. While he held her in a way
that guaranteed her death, I could do nothing. I knew what he was capable
of, and that he would have killed me too if I had tried to protect her.
I was called too weak because I couldn't fight him. I was called too
obstinate because 'I didn't care if my sister died'. I -did- care, Samus.
I just couldn't do anything..." Samus just nodded.
"I see. Well, anyway, I'm not your little sister. I know you out-age me by
decades, but, I'm not related to you. You don't need to protect me. Help
me, yes, but don't protect me."
"...Samus." Ryu got up from his chair and moved up close to her. He
reached for her and kissed her on the lips for about 15 seconds. In her
shock and bewilderment, as well as not thinking about anything better to
do to Ryu, she slapped him.
--------------------------
'Well, count on the one woman who's a -woman-...to sell me straight on what
my tastes are. Nah well. I'll find my match someday.' Ryu thought as he
walked down the street. He turned and began to head down the industrial
sector, seeing the very noticeable Hardy going that way. He also noticed
Samus and Royce, and stopped. He hid behind a corner.
"Right, well...as you know, we have a plan for getting rid of the X on this
station. Our message from Schneider is that he needs a means of transport
for all of the parasites. All of them. Seeing as how we could give him
such in a matter of a little while, and that they might very well all obey
him, no matter what form, we might be able to trap them somewhere."
"Thing is, where do we trap them? We can't send them back to SR388. I did
enough damage to those plans."
"We know. Funny thing is, you were charged for nothing. You owned that
planet." Samus gapes. Right...who in their right mind charges someone with
the destruction of their own property? "Admittedly, they didn't look into
the whole spiel of 'destroying planet' laws, but they wanted you dead, Samus.
You are not just a Chozo DNA hybrid. You're also part Metroid and part X.
The X part is well put away, however, and seeing as it's a Core-X, it won't
obey Schneider. You're safe either way." Samus folds her arms.
"They want me dead because I'm a proverbial chimera."
"No...well yes, but the thing is...you are...and were...not an Earth-type
human. You're what is called Gene Altar. They are a legendary race, and
assimilate any DNA put into them to their own genome. I believe that you
are more threat to them for that reason than any other. They are afraid
that you might have what they call 'monkey blood'." Samus' face lit.
"They think that I'm part Saiya-jin? I wish. You know, I wouldn't need
this Fusion Suit and I could kick Ridley's cherry-colored candy ass with
ease. Gods, I'd love that. Just disintegrate Mother Brain with a blast."
They all laughed.
"Anywhoo, we need a ship...and no, we're not using the Pork Roast, either."
"Then what?" Royce asked. "You can't possibly build a new one."
"Keaton has two ships. Excelsion is the bigger one, but Excalibur should
be perfect. Excalibur he's not as attached to, because he remembers every
last piece of schematic. He could rebuild it again if he wanted to.
Excelsion, however...his boss, the real big cheeze of the Federation, gave
him that ship. He doesn't want to lose that. It's her representative
symbol of being in Centauri Sector...and he, goodness knows, would get
sacked for losing it."
"Then use the Excelsion." Hardy looks at Samus and Royce in panic.
"T-t-t-t-tch! I don't want him hearing that! He'll have my head! I know,
popular opinion leans heavily against Keaton being Chairman much longer-"
"Quite heavily, considering how -you- rallied a civil dispute over Ridley."
Hardy grinned at that. Another fat joke, but he did cause holy hell for
Keaton.
"I've decided to use Excalibur. It's no big loss to any of us. Not at all."
-----------------------
Schneider was also overhearing Hardy's plan. He had eyes in Samus, the only
way he could use her, and had all bets that Hardy was telling Samus, knowing
full well that he was telling Schneider as well. Oh well, he had made clear
his demands through Samus that morning...he wasted no time in getting to the
Excalibur, calling all the parasites that he could. Samus, however, needed
a different calling.
He was going to send them all to the one place that she was hated most.
He was going to give them invincibility.
He was going to give them...revenge.
Lex adapted rather well to living with her sister, Houston, and Ryu Ookazi.
It was only a week and she was already being addressed like she was there
all the time. Ryu was a different story, because he wasn't familiar or
even well-connecting to Samus. In fact, he irritated her a lot. Whenever
she muttered 'Stupid Ridley' he wanted to comfort her, but he wasn't even
let a mile near her. He wished he knew where Leah was hiding...and hoped
that Royce or an X hadn't found her first.
His worry changed to relief when he was sent a message using the name
L.a as the sender. It had only an address on it, and he memorized it before
deleting the message, so Samus wouldn't see it.
-------------------------
Kefka had almost decided to follow Ryu to where he was going, but her sporting
side got in the way of her conscience yet again, and she ended up following
Ryu anyway. She stopped in front of a complex that was in the only red-light
sector of the station. Ryu might have gone inside, but she wasn't going to
test 'dragon territory'. Even she knew who Ryu was.
"No fooling Kefka with a cheap demi-human disguise, Ridley. Uwee, haa, haa,
haaa!!"
-------------------------
Ryu sat down on the couch and looked at the TV. Those were the only
furniture that they took from the place on Icerra. Leah sat next to him,
close enough to make him shift as though uncomfortable, but he fought that
urge as she moved to grab his hand and talk.
"I'm sorry that we dropped out of communication for a while. I was just
trying to find a spot to settle in that had Max-Net access built in. It
was tough, but doable. I'm really shocked that there was such a location
here. I know that it's dangerously close to the Metroids, but better to
deal with them than the X, right? Besides...I have this to give you."
She held out a Scouter. "I have my other one in the bedroom. Ginyu let
me have this, just before we left. He said he could get another one.
It's got a constant communicator with a radius of 500 miles. It's fairly
loud when not on your ear, too, so you can hear if someone's sending a
message."
"...You want me to have this...why? I can't fight Metroids."
"You can help me escape. Once all this business involving the X is over,
I can go anywhere I want. And you could go with me, too." Ryu had his
reservations about that. He didn't like that Leah was being so taboo with
Samus. Must have been one of those things that irritated her about him.
He didn't once mention Leah to Samus when she asked about Leah from him.
He knew that if she would get over her fear of being Samus' next target,
she would be at her absolute safest there. No need for hiding.
"..."
"Promise me, Ridley...you won't ever tell Samus about me, will you? I'm dead
to her now, anyway. It's in the records, for my own safety."
'Your safety is in the biggest jeopardy I can imagine...and it is because
you are scared of your own daughter. You are scared to tell the truth, and
it is because you lied to her as a child.' He remembered that dream of
Mah'aren again, and clenched his empty hand into a fist. He heard a shuffle
behind him and whirled around to see the Old Bird standing there.
"Ridley." Old Bird crossed his legs on the floor, sitting between Ryu and
Leah. "I must have noticed your energy close by, it is hard to miss anymore.
You know...I was over in the Metroid lair a little while ago. Dangerous
without Royce, but still pleasant. Anyway...I wanted to say something to
you. I don't care who is with you, but I must say it.
"You are unstable. Caught in twist and turn of cruel fate, and the demons
of your past threaten to reinitialize the control over you that Mother Brain
once had. I am afraid, however, that this is because Mother Brain is back,
and trying to control you again. I know you, Ridley. You seek solace to
your grief, and cannot find it. Alone, are you? Unloved, you think you are?
"This is not true. Samus cared too much for you. When you showed that you
were of a human-like soul, and tormented by youth, she thought of you in a
far different manner. You should have been more responsible, admittedly, but
now is a time of revelation...for both of you. Leah...Ridley...what do you
say to me?" Leah leaned back.
"Blah, blah, you feather-head. I'm not going to face Samus." The Old Bird's
face seemed to darken.
"Like it or not, you will. If you choose not to...then you will regret not
having told her you still lived. You will find yourself unable to come to
terms with yourself. Fear will keep you in this realm the next life."
"...I don't want to tell Samus...I think she might kill me."
"I have one thing to say to that, Ridley. You be dragon, immortal and
invincible to any other less than you. She cannot kill you, physically or
astrally." Gul'Gen nodded. "Your body's genetic construct will not allow
you to die by the sword unless you choose to."
"...So Ridley's got nothing to lose, eh?"
"Yes...and you have everything to lose if you don't act soon."
--------------------------
Ryu was back, and hiding from Samus only to surprise her. He was going to
tell her everything. Even if Leah wouldn't come out herself, he would tell
her about Leah. He wouldn't tell her where Leah was, but he was going to
reveal that she was still alive. He didn't need Lex to prove it, either.
Samus entered her bedroom after getting into a tiff with Adam about a mission
allotment when just after she turned the light off, she saw something
familiar.
Glowing eyes. Yellow eyes. Only one person had those. She scrambled for
the light and turned it on to see Ryu standing there. She sat upright on her
bed.
"What do you want?"
"To tell you something. A lot of things, really." Samus looked at Ryu with
her usual mask of irritation.
"What is it? I'm tired, and I think that you just want to leave me with a
sleepless night. If you're here to piss me off then-"
"Leave? I don't care if I make you mad." He could see her anger rise. "No,
I'm not here for that reason. That is not my intent."
"Then get on with it." Ryu sat in a chair.
"Where do I begin? How do I put it?"
"How about with you...and I don't care how."
"Alright. You know how Ridley got attacked by a Core-X, right?" Samus nods.
"Well...just after the infection, before it reached the nervous system...he
detached his soul from that body, and moved to a new body. He's still alive."
"How does this have anything to do with you?"
"I am that body. I am Ridley. This was the last body that I had created for
me, and I have put so many failsafes against death that I have to will my
end to come in order to die here." Ryu looked down. "I...don't know how they
work in certain circumstances, and whether or not they will be dangerous to
you."
"Why?" Ryu looked up at Samus.
"Why what?"
"Why this? Why did you hide from me? Why didn't you say anything while we
were on Icerra? Why did you disappear this evening?"
"Why a human body? Because...the form I had was too artificial, and too
crude, to utilize anything that I developed as a special power. I was close
to a predatorial savage to do anything. Nothing really beyond my body's own
power. A human body also has a human brain, yes? I feel that it will be
much more effective than that of a bestial monster. I don't want to put fear
into anyone anymore. I even gave myself a different name...I guess, why I hid
was because I didn't want to be Ridley except to those that I reveal myself
to. I didn't say anything to you while on Icerra because..." Ryu trailed
off.
"What?" Samus was now interested in listening to Ridley. He wasn't the
monster that everyone saw before. In fact, to others and maybe even to
Ridley/Ryu, Ridley/Ridley died there on Chauda.
"Now comes the bigger shock. I didn't want to reveal that the planet trade
lied about your mother in order to hide her. They didn't just cart her off
the colony that they were attacking to clear the surface of. They faked her
birth complications, though she did admit to passing out just after the
birth. Leah's still alive, also. She wanted me to shoot her, to keep from
me ever revealing that she is alive. I wouldn't do it."
"Why not?"
"I...don't know, honestly. I never wanted to hurt her, even when she deliber-
ately wanted to hurt, even kill herself. I wanted her to live without fear
of anything...not even you." Samus looked at Ryu.
"And...your reason for saying this is...what? Are you going to turn around
and try to kill me just so she doesn't have to live in fear of my shadow?!"
Ryu shook his head. "No. Samus. I don't want you to hunt her. Don't kill
her. Don't...judge her. Please." Samus laughed.
"From the sound of this, it's almost as though you want to protect someone
you love. Well, this is rich. I don't want to have you for a father-in-law,
in all honesty."
"Ggh! I'm not marrying her! God, do you think I WANT her? I want her to
live, dammit!"
"And? Who DO you love then?"
"I...don't know. I don't know."
"What about you first?" Ryu shook his head.
"I'm not conceited. I don't hold that to me."
"If you don't love you, who will? I don't. You're too stupid."
"And what makes me stupid?"
"You won't even let yourself go...for anything. You try to do what you can
to help or protect us, and you don't even go to any lengths to please
yourself? What about you? Do you think that you'll be happy trying to
protect us? It will tear you apart. It already does."
"Mm." Ryu stammered out. "I don't want to talk about it."
"If you don't tell me, I won't know why you're being so over-protective."
"..."
"This is important to me, Ridley. Please? Houston and Lex are in other
rooms, I promise that no one will bother us."
"Fine. It was the day I was exiled from my homeworld. The day I was deemed
too weak and obstinate for them. One of the current Ginyus, a dragon called
Mah'aren, was killing my little sister. He held her in a neckhold that
certainly would have choked her to death, but lack of air was not enough.
His tail is covered in venomous barbs. Each as lethal as a cobra's fang.
Each...oddly enough even looking like fangs. While he held her in a way
that guaranteed her death, I could do nothing. I knew what he was capable
of, and that he would have killed me too if I had tried to protect her.
I was called too weak because I couldn't fight him. I was called too
obstinate because 'I didn't care if my sister died'. I -did- care, Samus.
I just couldn't do anything..." Samus just nodded.
"I see. Well, anyway, I'm not your little sister. I know you out-age me by
decades, but, I'm not related to you. You don't need to protect me. Help
me, yes, but don't protect me."
"...Samus." Ryu got up from his chair and moved up close to her. He
reached for her and kissed her on the lips for about 15 seconds. In her
shock and bewilderment, as well as not thinking about anything better to
do to Ryu, she slapped him.
--------------------------
'Well, count on the one woman who's a -woman-...to sell me straight on what
my tastes are. Nah well. I'll find my match someday.' Ryu thought as he
walked down the street. He turned and began to head down the industrial
sector, seeing the very noticeable Hardy going that way. He also noticed
Samus and Royce, and stopped. He hid behind a corner.
"Right, well...as you know, we have a plan for getting rid of the X on this
station. Our message from Schneider is that he needs a means of transport
for all of the parasites. All of them. Seeing as how we could give him
such in a matter of a little while, and that they might very well all obey
him, no matter what form, we might be able to trap them somewhere."
"Thing is, where do we trap them? We can't send them back to SR388. I did
enough damage to those plans."
"We know. Funny thing is, you were charged for nothing. You owned that
planet." Samus gapes. Right...who in their right mind charges someone with
the destruction of their own property? "Admittedly, they didn't look into
the whole spiel of 'destroying planet' laws, but they wanted you dead, Samus.
You are not just a Chozo DNA hybrid. You're also part Metroid and part X.
The X part is well put away, however, and seeing as it's a Core-X, it won't
obey Schneider. You're safe either way." Samus folds her arms.
"They want me dead because I'm a proverbial chimera."
"No...well yes, but the thing is...you are...and were...not an Earth-type
human. You're what is called Gene Altar. They are a legendary race, and
assimilate any DNA put into them to their own genome. I believe that you
are more threat to them for that reason than any other. They are afraid
that you might have what they call 'monkey blood'." Samus' face lit.
"They think that I'm part Saiya-jin? I wish. You know, I wouldn't need
this Fusion Suit and I could kick Ridley's cherry-colored candy ass with
ease. Gods, I'd love that. Just disintegrate Mother Brain with a blast."
They all laughed.
"Anywhoo, we need a ship...and no, we're not using the Pork Roast, either."
"Then what?" Royce asked. "You can't possibly build a new one."
"Keaton has two ships. Excelsion is the bigger one, but Excalibur should
be perfect. Excalibur he's not as attached to, because he remembers every
last piece of schematic. He could rebuild it again if he wanted to.
Excelsion, however...his boss, the real big cheeze of the Federation, gave
him that ship. He doesn't want to lose that. It's her representative
symbol of being in Centauri Sector...and he, goodness knows, would get
sacked for losing it."
"Then use the Excelsion." Hardy looks at Samus and Royce in panic.
"T-t-t-t-tch! I don't want him hearing that! He'll have my head! I know,
popular opinion leans heavily against Keaton being Chairman much longer-"
"Quite heavily, considering how -you- rallied a civil dispute over Ridley."
Hardy grinned at that. Another fat joke, but he did cause holy hell for
Keaton.
"I've decided to use Excalibur. It's no big loss to any of us. Not at all."
-----------------------
Schneider was also overhearing Hardy's plan. He had eyes in Samus, the only
way he could use her, and had all bets that Hardy was telling Samus, knowing
full well that he was telling Schneider as well. Oh well, he had made clear
his demands through Samus that morning...he wasted no time in getting to the
Excalibur, calling all the parasites that he could. Samus, however, needed
a different calling.
He was going to send them all to the one place that she was hated most.
He was going to give them invincibility.
He was going to give them...revenge.